1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus and a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus each of which displays thereon images of various dimensions. The present invention particularly relates to an image display apparatus and a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus each of which can efficiently provide image observation by associating an image with a plurality of dimensions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a diagnostic imaging apparatus, such as a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus or an X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) apparatus, displays volume data of three dimensions, there is a method of displaying an axial image, a sagittal image, and a coronal image, which are orthogonal to one another, in a manner associated with respective positional relations (for example, see JP-A H10-124649 (KOKAI)). A technology of reconstructing multiplanar images, such as an axial image, a sagittal image, and a coronal image, is called Multi Planar Reconstruction (MPR).
FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an MPR screen according to a conventional diagnostic imaging apparatus. FIG. 17 depicts an MPR screen on which images of a head that have data of three dimensions are displayed, and a coronal image, an axial image, and a sagittal image are output in a frame A on the upper left, in a frame B on the lower left, and in a frame C on the upper right, respectively.
On the MPR screen, each line Region Of Interest (ROI) displayed horizontally or vertically in the frames A, B and C indicates a slice position of a cross section output in another frame; and as an operator moves a line ROI in one of the frames, a cross-sectional image output in another frame can be changed in accordance with a position of the moved line ROT.
According to the MPR screen, as an operator arranges an ROT at an arbitrary position in the frames A, B, or C, a cross-sectional image corresponding to the position can be reconstructed and displayed in a frame D, so that the operator can easily display an arbitrary cross-sectional image when there is a large amount of image data of three dimensions obtained by an X-ray CT apparatus or an MRI apparatus.
A diagnostic imaging apparatus, such as an MRI apparatus or an X-ray CT apparatus, can collect a plurality of images of two spatial dimensions or three spatial dimensions taken at different times. For example, in a case of an MRI apparatus, dimensions other than three spatial dimensions, for example, time and chemical shift, are present depending on a data collection method, so that there are image data per time point and image data per chemical shift with respect to the same position.
However, according to the conventional method described above, an image of three spatial dimensions cannot be displayed in an associated manner with the other non-spatial dimensions. For this reason, for example, to display an image taken at a different time at the same position, the image needs to be newly selected again, or a time point needs to be input as a numerical value, so that it is difficult to operate those processes intuitively and simply.